RHEL7: How to install a MariaDB/MySql service.

Presentation of MariaDB

MariaDB is a binary replacement for MySql, the famous database system.

Prerequisites

As the default MariaDB installation uses the /var/lib/mysql directory to store your databases, keep in mind that the partition or logical volume associated with /var needs adequate space.

Installation Procedure

To install it, apply the following steps:

Install the MariaDB packages:

# yum install -y mariadb mariadb-server

Activate at boot and start the MariaDB service:

# systemctl enable mariadb
# systemctl start mariadb

Execute the basic setup:

# mysql_secure_installation
/usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation: line 379: find_mysql_client: command not found
NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MariaDB
SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!
In order to log into MariaDB to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user. If you've just installed MariaDB, and
you haven't set the root password yet, the password will be blank,
so you should just press enter here.
Enter current password for root (enter for none): type enter
OK, successfully used password, moving on...
Setting the root password ensures that nobody can log into the MariaDB
root user without the proper authorisation.
Set root password? [Y/n] Y
New password: your-password
Re-enter new password: your-password
Password updated successfully!
Reloading privilege tables..
... Success!
By default, a MariaDB installation has an anonymous user, allowing anyone
to log into MariaDB without having to have a user account created for
them. This is intended only for testing, and to make the installation
go a bit smoother. You should remove them before moving into a
production environment.
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
Normally, root should only be allowed to connect from 'localhost'. This
ensures that someone cannot guess at the root password from the network.
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
By default, MariaDB comes with a database named 'test' that anyone can
access. This is also intended only for testing, and should be removed
before moving into a production environment.
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n] Y
- Dropping test database...
... Success!
- Removing privileges on test database...
... Success!
Reloading the privilege tables will ensure that all changes made so far
will take effect immediately.
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n] Y
... Success!
Cleaning up...
All done! If you've completed all of the above steps, your MariaDB
installation should now be secure.
Thanks for using MariaDB!

If you need to access the database from a different server, add the MySql service to the firewall configuration and reload it:

Initial Configuration

To help you define the initial configuration according to the specifications of your system (memory size, number of CPU, type of activity, etc), you can find useful examples of my.cnf files in the mariadb-server package:

Start by reading the /usr/share/mysql/my-innodb-heavy-4G.cnf file because it is full of useful comments.

Then, download Major Hayden’s mysqltuner.pl. After running this script, you will get a rough evaluation of your configuration and basic recommentations to improve it.

The innotop package contains a command with the same name that behaves like the top command on MariaDB servers, providing a lot of details about the current activity (cache, locks, replication status, etc). This package is available in the EPEL repository.